Elon Musk’s X loses 1m users to Bluesky in US election fallout
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Taylor Swift, The Guardian (UK), some Hollywood celebrities, and former CNN host Don Lemon are among prominent names that have migrated from X (Twitter) owned by Elon Musk to Bluesky in the past couple of days to escape the “far-right activism” on X after Musk formed a tag team with Donald Trump.
The Guardian (UK) reports that Bluesky has picked up more than 1 million new users since the US election, as users seek to escape misinformation and offensive posts on X.
On Wednesday, the newspaper published “Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X” explaining that “We wanted to let readers know that we will no longer post on any official Guardian editorial accounts on the social media site X (formerly Twitter). We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere.
“This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism.
“The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.
“X users will still be able to share our articles, and the nature of live news reporting means we will still occasionally embed content from X within our article pages.”
Influx helping Bluesky
The influx, largely from North America and the United Kingdom, has helped Bluesky reach nearly 15 million users worldwide, up from 9 million in September, the company said.
Social media researcher Axel Bruns argued the platform offered an alternative to X, formerly Twitter, including a more effective system for blocking or suspending problematic accounts and policing harmful behaviour.
“It’s become a refuge for people who want to have the kind of social media experience that Twitter used to provide, but without all the far-right activism, the misinformation, the hate speech, the bots and everything else,” he said.
“The more liberal kind of Twitter community has really now escaped from there and seems to have moved en masse to Bluesky.”
Bluesky began as a project inside Twitter but became an independent company in 2022, and is now primarily owned by chief executive Jay Graber.
The platform has previously benefited from dissatisfaction with X and its billionaire owner, Musk, who is closely tied to US president-elect Donald Trump’s successful election campaign.
Twitter shed millions of users after rebranding to X and usage in the US slumped by more than a fifth in the subsequent seven months.
Bluesky reported picking up 3 million new users in the week after X was suspended in Brazil in September and a further 1.2 million in the two days after X announced it would allow users to view posts from people who had blocked them.
“We’re excited to welcome all of these new people, ranging from Swifties to wrestlers to city planners,” Bluesky spokesperson Emily Liu said.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian and professor at New York University, had 250,000 followers on X but picked up 21,000 followers in her first day on Bluesky this week.
“I am still on X but after January, when X could be owned by a de facto member of the Trump administration, its functions as a Trump propaganda outlet and far-right radicalization machine could be accelerated,” she said.
From left: Bette Midler, Don Lemon and Jamie Lee Curtis – three of the celebrities who left X in recent days.
Bluesky social media ranking
Bluesky is still second to Threads in the social networking category on Apple’s US App Store, which reported reaching 275 million monthly active users in November, up from 200 million in August.
The independent platform has recently added features including direct messaging and video compatibility to more closely resemble X and distinguish itself from its Meta-owned competitor.
Ben-Ghiat has found the site’s “starter packs”, or groups of people with similar expertise and interest, a refreshing way in.
“[They] promise to give Bluesky some of what I valued on Twitter/X: informed takes on a subject from multiple points of view,” she told The Guardian.
Bruns, a professor at Queensland University of Technology’s Digital Media Research Center, said the explosion in user numbers had created “growing pains” as new users learned to navigate the site but was ultimately adding to the site’s momentum.
“It really feels like a throwback to those days of the early excitement about social media in many ways, and that’s what, at the moment, attracts quite a few people,” he said. “It just makes it more vibrant, more active place.”
Exodus fuelled by Musk’s support for Trump
Sky News add that the exodus of X users is believed to have been fuelled by Musk’s support of Trump, who enjoyed a decisive win on 5 November.
Users on the platform, which Musk bought for $44bn (£34bn) in 2022, have also reported more misinformation, offensive posts, and problems blocking users.
On Monday night, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, posted that she was “back” on Bluesky, saying “Good GOD it’s nice to be in a digital space with other real human beings.”
Her post was liked by 27,000 people.
It is not the first time users have left Musk’s platform for Bluesky.
In August, amid rioting in towns and cities across the UK, Bluesky said it registered a 60% increase in activity from users in the UK.
On X, Musk criticised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, branding him #twotierkier for his response to the rioting, claiming civil war was inevitable in the UK.
Several UK public figures, including Home Office minister Jess Philips and Labour MP Lewis Atkinson said they were switching platforms.
Mr Lewis posted at the time: “Hello everyone here… another potential alternative to that other place…”
X also experienced a drop in users by around a fifth following its rebranding from Twitter.
And after X was suspended in Brazil this year, Bluesky said it gained three million extra users.
This week, British comedian Greg Davies posted: “Hello all, I’ll be leaving X in the next few days. Thanks for the lovely messages over the years. If you want to know what I’ve been up to you can sign up to my mailing list or follow me on Instagram. Cheers Greg”.
Bluesky background
Bluesky was initially conceived as part of Twitter in 2019, but became an independent platform when it officially launched in 2021.
It is owned by Jay Graber, and takes a decentralised approach to social media, one where different platforms and communities can interoperate rather than all live under one corporate banner like Twitter or Facebook.
Despite this, the platform looks a lot like X or Twitter – with direct messaging recently introduced, making it more similar to its rival platforms.
It is second to Threads, Meta’s equivalent, on the US Apple App store, which has 275 million active users a month.
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